Emperor Yang of Sui

Emperor Yang of Sui (隋煬帝, 569 – 11 April 618), personal name Yang Guang, alternative name Ying, Xianbei name Amo, also known as Emperor Ming of Sui during the brief reign of his grandson Yang Tong, was the second emperor of the Sui dynasty of China. Emperor Yang's original name was Yang Ying, but he was renamed by his father, after consulting with oracles, to Yang Guang. Yang Guang was made the Prince of Jin after Emperor Wen established the Sui dynasty in 581. In 588, he was granted command of the five armies that invaded the southern Chen dynasty and was widely praised for the success of this campaign. These military achievements, as well as his machinations against his older brother Yang Yong, led to him becoming crown prince in 600. After the death of his father in 604, generally considered, though unproven, by most traditional historians to be a murder ordered by Yang Guang, he ascended the throne as Emperor Yang. Emperor Yang, ruling from 604 to 618, committed to several large construction projects, most notably the completion of the Grand Canal, and the reconstruction of the Great Wall. He also ordered several military expeditions that brought Sui to its greatest territorial extent, one of which, the conquest of Champa, resulted in the death of thousands of Sui soldiers from malaria. These expeditions, along with a series of disastrous campaigns against Goguryeo, left the empire bankrupt and the populace in revolt. With northern China in turmoil, Emperor Yang spent his last days in Jiangdu (江都, in modern Yangzhou, Jiangsu), where he was eventually strangled in a coup led by his general Yuwen Huaji. Despite his accomplishments, Emperor Yang is generally considered by traditional historians to be one of the worst tyrants in Chinese history and the reason for the Sui dynasty's relatively short rule. His failed campaigns against Goguryeo, and the conscriptions levied to man them, coupled with increased taxation to finance these wars, and civil unrest as a result of this taxation, ultimately led to the downfall of the dynasty.